Wilderness Wandering

October 26, 2024

We spent two fantastic days with our friends Pam and Jon near Chattanooga, TN. Tim displayed admirable discipline and refrained from purchasing any new bicycles. He did however meet some very interesting guys who have spent their lives in the cycling industry.  

Three hours later we arrived at Mammoth Cave National Park in KY. The Mammoth Cave system is the largest known cave system in the world, with 426 miles of caves discovered so far. It is estimated that there is a total of 800 to 1000 miles of caves total!

It all began 315 million years ago when the area was a seabed and layers of limestone developed. Over time, the seabed dried up and layers of sandstone and shale covered the limestone. Then again over millions of years, the Green River and others carved away the limestone creating the miles ands miles of caves. The rivers are now approximately 400 feet below the surface and are still creating new caves.There are 15 different cave tours to see different parts of the vast cave system. 

From 4000 to 2000 years ago, Indigenous people explored and mined minerals in the cave. In the early 1800s, the caves were mined for saltpetre, a key ingredient in gunpowder. 

Around 1816, tourists began to visit the caves and about 1838, three enslaved men began to guide visitors and explore more of the cave system. One of the men, Steven Bishop was the first to discover the eyeless cave fish and to cross the Bottomless Pit. Steven is buried on the grounds. 

Mammoth Cave became a National Park in 1941. Only 40 miles of passageways had been mapped at that point. 

We took our picture, and stamped the passport. We spent a few minutes in the great visitor center and exhibits before we went to the meeting spot for our cave tour. 

Our tour was the Historic Tour, 2 miles long, 540 steps, and 2 hours in length.  The ranger explained a lot of history on the creation of the cave and it’s history as an attraction. There were some very narrow, tight passages, as well as some very low clearance passages. One had to be quite careful not to hit one’s head. We enjoyed the tour. 

After the tour, we found the campground and our site for the night. The campground was very pretty. The sites are nicely spaced with good tree coverage. We used up our firewood on a campfire. 

October 27

We began the day doing the Heritage Trail hike to the River Styx Spring Trail, total 2 miles.

We did one more cave tour, Domes and Dripstones, .75 miles and 600 steps.  

We began descending 300 steps into the earth. At the lowest point, we were 310 feet under the surface. Again, there was a lot of twisting and turning to get through the passages. Sometimes the passages would open into cavernous rooms. There were several amphitheaters with benches that could seat more than 100 people.

One thing we noticed about Mammoth Caves vs other caves we have toured, is that these caves were for the most part drier. So there weren’t many of the typical stalagmites and stalactites, until towards the end of the tour when there was moisture again. There were some very beautiful formations! There are bats in the caves, but White Nose Syndrome has decimated the population there. We didn’t see any bats, but we did we cave crickets! 

As we left the cave, we had to walk across pads soaked with a cleaning liquid so we weren’t spreading the White Nose Syndrome. Before we departed, we checked out The Lodge at Mammoth Cave. The lodge is quite new, and looked beautiful. It was built in a very organic style. 

We were very impressed with Mammoth Caves National Park!

As always, we truly enjoyed our travels in Calypso! It was a great time to visit friends and appreciate fall colors.

We are staying home for a few months before we resume National Parks travel in January!